The Village Dragon
by VampCinder
Summary: Through a convoluted series of irrationalities, chakra mutations, and tricks Naruto ends up transformed. Into...a lava dragon? Apparently being a 30 story reptilian monster with wings is harder than it looks. Naruto has to try to do...something. PERMANENTLY DROPPED
1. Chapter 1: This is a Thing Now

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! I welcome you to the 1st chapter of The Village Dragon. Whether you are a fan of my first story "The True Child of Light" or a new reader, I hope that you enjoy this new story. It is very different from my other story in many ways. First of all, the Naruto in this story will be sort of OP sometimes. If any of you have read "A Big Problem" by Vaguely Defined Entity, it is somewhat like that in a way. Naruto has a power that he cannot control at first, and it is certainly OP. However it does have some downsides, so don't worry too much. This story is meant to be a little bit more relaxed of a story as opposed to The True Child of Light, so things that I wouldn't let slide in my other story, I might in this one.

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release. If Kishimoto-sensei would like to give me the rights though, I would not be opposed. My fics would probably get a lot more attention.

 **Important Notes:**

 **• Fair Warning:** I listened to all 8 of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure openings on loop while writing part of this. If you haven't watched that, do it. Start with Phantom Blood. 10/10 anime. Also read the manga.

• In this story the Hokage will not be in his office when Naruto attempts to steal the scroll. I never believed that a man titled "The God of Shinobi" would be so easily tricked by something like the sexy jutsu. Even if he was sure that it was Naruto, I doubt that he would fall for something like that in case of a real breach. Anyone attempting to steal something like the scroll of seals would be taken seriously.

• The academy in this story is much more competent. It teaches the students more than in canon, and they aren't entirely ignorant of everything. They know more general purpose jutsu and simple E and D rank jutsu than in canon. I always found it weird that a school in one of the most powerful villages in the world that teaches children how to become powerhouse killing machines would be so utterly useless in supplying the students with worthwhile skills other than the substitution and transformation.

• Dragons exist in this universe. They just stay away from the elemental nations. This will be touched on later

• Oh and there will be random comedy that only the readers will get. There may be references to some abridged series, and there could be some references to other shows. It is purely for comedy reasons and does not in any way hint at any sort of crossover element.

Without further ado, I present to you the 1st chapter of The Village Dragon

 **Chapter 1: This Is a Thing Now**

 **The Academy, Konohagakure no Sato, 12:00 AM**

"I apologize Naruto, but I can't pass you this year either."

Naruto was horrified. Even after three years of attempting to pass the graduation exam, he still wasn't able to make the cut. All because of that one stupid clone jutsu.

"Come on Iruka-sensei! It's just that one jutsu! I even managed to pass the written part this year and my substitution and transformation jutsu are perfect!" Naruto pleaded.

Iruka shook his head. "Naruto I know that you try hard, but those are the requirements to become a genin. I would be willing to help you with the clone jutsu later today. I'm free for the month long break before the new school year as well, so I can help you all you want."

"No! No matter how much I try, it won't work. I already do what you say for it and it's impossible! No matter how much chakra I push into it, the clone jutsu fails every time! Can't you just pass me anyway? You know that I can do it. I won't even need the clone jutsu outside of the academy, it isn't even useful for fighting and they're just illusions!"

Iruka actually agreed with Naruto. The clone jutsu was almost completely useless in battle as anything other than a distraction, and Naruto would never be the type to use distractions in a fight. Or so he thought. Naruto could actually be quite stealthy and quiet when he was serious about it. Regardless, he was a true teacher of Konoha, and as such he would uphold its rules. Even if he disagreed with some of them.

"I really am sorry Naruto. I have to test the other students now. My offer for tutoring is still there if you change your mind." Iruka said as he directed Naruto out of the testing room and closed the door.

"Stupid Iruka-sensei with his stupid rules. I'll be a better ninja than him one day, then I'll make him take a bunch of tests and see how he likes it." Naruto muttered as he kicked the ground.

Naruto turned around when he heard the door slide open. Mizuki came out of the testing room and was walking towards him. "Hey Naruto. Sorry to hear that you didn't pass. However there is another way to pass if you think that you're good enough."

Naruto's eyes lit up again. "Really? What is it?"

"Well it is an alternative test for people with a higher skill level. In fact, the fourth hokage himself actually took this test as well because he was so skilled."

At this Naruto was on his toes and getting extremely excited. "The fourth took it?! What is it?"

"It's actually quite simple. What you have to do is sneak into the Hokage's office and take the scroll of seals. It is a large scroll that should be in the cabinet behind the Hokage's desk. It's called the scroll of seals. After that you need to go to the forested area with the old abandoned shack. You know the one right?"

Naruto nodded.

"Alright good. After you get there, you have to learn one jutsu from the scroll by the time I get there. If you can do that, you can be promoted to the rank of genin." Mizuki explained. "A little bit of advice. If you go when it gets dark, there is a higher chance of success."

"Thanks Mizuki-sensei! I'll go prepare now." Naruto exclaimed as he ran off.

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later, Hokage Tower, Konohagakure no Sato, 10:00 PM**

Naruto had silently snuck in right before the receptionist locked the doors and left for the night. The only people left in the tower now were the guards and Naruto. Naruto had come in about five minutes before and walked behind a large plant and used the Cloak of Invisibility technique to blend into the wall behind it.

Naruto was good at stealth, most likely the most talented in the entire academy since Itachi Uchiha. However just being good at stealth wasn't enough for a task like this. It wasn't as simple as sneaking into a house. This was a highly guarded area with talented ninja scouring the floors for anything irregular whatsoever. It wasn't going to be easy. Luckily he was now dressed in all black and gray clothing with a half facemask covering his mouth.

He was also wearing soft bottomed shoes to limit the sound that his steps made. He may like the color orange, but he liked it because it drew people's attention, not the other way around. He knew very well that a puffy orange jumpsuit was horrible for sneaking, Iruka had made sure that Naruto at least payed attention in those classes.

Naruto slowly tiptoed in a crouched position over to the receptionist desk after casting the sneak jutsu on himself to help blend in with the shadows and found the drawer with the keys. He carefully raised the drawer before bringing it out so that no one would hear the sliding of the wood. He set it back down before looking into the drawer to find the one for the Hokage's office.

Once he found it, he swiftly picked it out of the foam fitting and quietly closed the drawer. Naruto never like the receptionist, but he was sure grateful for her extremely organized tendencies that made it easy to find the key.

Naruto pocketed the key and looked around to see if there were any guards. There was only one next to the foot of the stairs to the next floor. Luckily most of the security was focused on higher levels.

Naruto had picked up a few pebbles from outside for situations just like this. He took one in his hand and lowered it to the ground. With a flick of his wrist, the pebble flew only slightly above the floor through the shadows before dropping off near the other end of the room and causing a slight sound.

This sound immediately caught the attention of the guard and he whipped his head towards the direction of the pebble and began to slowly approach the area with caution.

As soon as the ninja passed the desk, Naruto silently sprang towards the stairs and began creeping up them. He was sure thankful for the fact that people spent plenty of money making sure that the Hokage tower was constantly in top condition. The stairs in the tower didn't creak whatsoever which made it much easier to silently step up them.

When Naruto neared the second floor, he lowered his body and slowly surveyed the area. There was a guard next to the stairs once again and a guard pacing back and forth in front of the windows on the left of the room. The one by the stairs was particularly annoying. If Naruto tried to come out of the stairs and onto the next flight, he would be seen. The pebble trick wouldn't work this time because there were two people in the room.

Naruto took out a length of rope and performed the cloth binding technique on the guard at the stairs. It wasn't the actual sealing cloth and he wasn't actually using the seal, so all it would do was bind up the target. The guard made quite a bit of noise which alerted, but was effectively tied up for a few seconds before he would be able to regain his sense and escape.

Naruto threw a large instant smoke bomb in the room and bolted up the stairs. Now the guards would know that there was an intruder in the tower, but he would have time to actually get somewhere fast. There was no way that he was going to keep hiding from multiple highly trained ninja.

Now there were only two floors to go. The third floor and the floor with the Hokage's office.

Luckily for Naruto, the third and fourth floors weren't like the first two. Instead of a large circular room, they consisted of many rooms with a circular hallway around them on both floors and the Hokage's office was on the outside of the circular hallway on the fourth floor.

Naruto sprinted around the stairway turn and flew up the stairs to the fourth floor. He could hear the ninja on the second floor yelling that there was an intruder.

The Hokage's office was directly next to the stairs, and the guards in the hallway were in a different section at the moment. He inserted the key and turned it. Quickly but silently he opened the door and closed it behind him.

'Alright. Behind the desk.'

Naruto opened the cabinet and looked through it for the scroll. Quickly he saw a scroll about waist height among smaller scrolls. He grabbed it and closed the cabinet. He could hear the guards finally gathering.

"Where did they go? Check the Hokage's office."

"Oh shit. Dammit. I can't fit the scroll in the vents, so hiding in there is out. They'll check every inch of the room if it's unlocked when they check.'

Naruto frantically whipped around the room to look for a solution. 'Dammit! The room doesn't lock from the inside!"

'Hold on. That's it! Iruka sensei taught us this a few weeks back!'

Naruto ran up to the door handle and performed the rat hand seal. After focusing his chakra he put his hand on the door handle and released his chakra in a specific way for the jutsu.

 **"Locking Jutsu."** He whispered silently, still needing the verbal command for the jutsu. If he was more experienced with it, he could do it with no command.

Naruto then sprinted around and under Hiruzen's desk to hide.

Several seconds later, a guard came by and jiggled the handle. "It's still locked! I'm going to look inside real quick!" The guard communicated to his fellow ninja.

The guard unlocked the door and opened it up. He quickly surveyed the room and found nothing out of the ordinary. "All clear! The intruder isn't in the Hokage's office!" He said as he closed the door and relocked it.

Naruto slowly released a breath that he didn't know he was holding. 'That was close. Now what to do?'

Naruto looked to the window and saw the tight key lock on it. 'I guess I could use the unlocking jutsu now that I'm clear.'

Naruto did so and pushed open the window slowly. He climbed out and closed and locked it once again.

'Stage one complete. Stage two, get away without being noticed and reach the forest.'

Naruto jumped across the rooftops of Konoha. He faintly recognized the figures of ninjas jumping towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

 **3 Hours Later, Abandoned Shack, Past Konoha Gates, 1:40 AM**

Iruka jumped into the clearing and saw Naruto laying on the ground with scratches all over and his chest rapidly pumping up and down from exhaustion.

"Naruto! What are you doing?!"

Naruto jerked up. "Oh hey Iruka-sensei! Did Mizuki-sensei send you for the test?"

Iruka's eyebrow raised. "What test are you talking about Naruto?"

"You know, the secret graduation exam. Mizuki-sensei said that if I stole this scroll and learned a jutsu from it, I would still be allowed to be a genin!"

Iruka faltered at this. "Mizuki? Why would he do that?"

All of a sudden, Mizuki burst into the clearing and stopped on a tree branch. "Good job Naruto! Now give me the scroll!"

Iruka whipped around and looked at Naruto. "Don't give it to him Naruto! He tricked you! There is no secret test!"

"There isn't? Then why did Mizuki-sensei say that there is?"

Mizuki laughed. "You really haven't noticed yet?! I told you to get that scroll for me! Just give it to me! Iruka just wants the scroll for himself! He really hates you!"

"Don't listen to him Naruto! You need to protect the scroll!"

Mizuki continued to laugh. "Do you know why everyone hates you Naruto?!"

Iruka stepped forward. "Don't Mizuki! You know it's forbidden!"

Naruto stepped back. "W-What? Why everyone hates me? Why?"

Mizuki smirked. "Because Naruto, YOU ARE THE NINE-TAILED FOX!"

"I-I'm what?"

"The fourth Hokage could never kill the nine-tails so he sealed it in a boy! That boy is you Naruto! Now DIE!" Mizuki yelled as he hurled a fuma shuriken at Naruto.

Naruto closed his eyes and flinched in anticipation of the attack, but it never came.

He opened his eyes to see Iruka covering him with a large fuma shuriken stuck in his back. "A-Are you alright Naruto?" Iruka asked as he ripped out the shuriken and rolled over onto his back.

"I-Iruka-sensei? Why?"

Iruka coughed up some blood. "Because we're the same Naruto. I lost my parents during the nine-tails attack just like you. I grew up as an orphan, always goofing off and seeking attention from other people. You may not be the most innocent kid, but I can tell you one thing Naruto. You are not the Nine-tails. It is just sealed inside of you. You are one of the brightest students that I have ever taught. You always brought light into my day. Just run Naruto. Mizuki is too strong for you right now. Just take the scroll and run as fast as you can to the Hokage."

Naruto shook his head. "I can't leave you here! I still have to ask you so many-" Naruto was cut off.

Iruka's eyes closed and his body went limp.

"Iruka-sensei? Iruka-sensei?! COME ON! DON'T DIE ON ME! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!" Naruto yelled as tears flew across his face. "YOU CAN'T DIE YET! YOU STILL HAVE TO TEACH ME STUFF RIGHT? IRUKA-SENSEI!"

Mizuki laughed. "HAHAHA! The pathetic demon can't even save his own pathetic teacher! Serves him right for protecting you all these years!"

Naruto stood up. "Shut up Mizuki."

"Or what?!"

Naruto's chest puffed up and he shot out a blob of…lava? Molten rock shot straight towards Mizuki, who barely dodged it. The edge of his shit was still extremely seared though.

'Lava release?! How the hell does this kid have a powerful Kekkei Genkai like that?!'

A red bubbling chakra began to form around Naruto. His eyes became slitted and red, his nails and teeth grew, and all of his scratches disappeared.

 **"I'LL KILL YOU!"** Naruto let out with a primal roar.

Mizuki jumped back as the oppressive feeling of the nine-tails chakra saturated the air. "Finally using your power demon brat?! Well I'll still kill you!"

Naruto leapt towards Mizuki at extreme speeds and punched him through multiple trees.

Naruto then shot out another series of molten rock blobs at Mizuki, although he still successfully dodged these.

"Fine brat! I'll get serious!"

Mizuki pulled out a vial and drank the contents inside. He soon began to grow much larger and more muscular. He also began to take on features of a tiger such as fur, stripes, and tiger ears.

"Take this demon brat!" Mizuki said as he seemingly disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto. Much like Naruto had done before, Mizuki punched him straight through multiple trees. Unlike Naruto however, he didn't stop there. He continuously sped to Naruto's location and was bouncing him around like a ball. They had travelled fairly far from the Konoha walls and Iruka's body was far out of sight. They were now in a large clearing that was nothing but plains.

Naruto was taking heavy damage, some of which was being healed quickly by the nine-tails chakra. However the intense pain and pummeling still disoriented Naruto enough that he couldn't respond.

'Dammit! What do I do? This power isn't enough!'

Naruto heard a deep voice resound in his head. **"I will give you more power boy. Destroy your enemies. Rip them limb from limb and make them plead for mercy."**

Naruto was suddenly inside of a dark and dank sewer with a large gate in front of him. "Are you the nine-tails?!"

 **"You catch on quick boy. So what will it be? More power, or would you like to die here and let your teacher's death be in vain?"**

"Hell yeah I want more power! I'm gonna pummel this asshole into the ground for what he did to Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled back.

 **"I see. Very well then. I cannot give you much more power than this for now due to this insufferable seal, but it should be enough to deal with this weakling."** The nine-tails said as red chakra leaked through the gates and flowed into Naruto.

On the outside, Mizuki had just let up on beating Naruto into a pulp when the red chakra around Naruto began to bubble even more and he sprouted one full tail. Mizuki jumped back far away from Naruto now. The chakra cloak itself was bad enough, but having a tail of power was bad. Mizuki needed to get out of there now. "Stay away you monster!"

 **"I TOLD YOU THAT I'LL KILL YOU! AND I'M NO MONSTER!"** Naruto yelled once again.

However something was wrong. Something about Naruto's chakra didn't feel right. It felt like it was being distorted and changed quickly.

Naruto heard the nine-tails inside of his head again. **"Oh shit! Stop taking the chakra! Stop taking it now! Cut it off! If you keep using my chakra you'll-"**

The nine-tails was cut off when Naruto was enveloped in a monstrously sized blast of chakra smoke.

Mizuki screamed as he was drowned in glowing orange lava that dripped down onto him in a huge mass.

Hiruzen and ten anbu agents arrived and stopped on the branches of the surrounding trees.

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "Impossible. One hasn't been seen in decades. They stay far away from the elemental nations. I've never even heard of one like this."

The anbu were also immensely shocked.

Currently laying in the clearing was a 300 foot tall lava dragon. A four legged dragon covered in jet black scales across its back, legs, and the top of its head that looked like smooth cooled lava giant wings spanning across its back were similar to the body except they seemed to be made of muscle and fiber, rather than scales. It had pure liquid lava dripping from its mouth and onto the plains, causing the landscape to be severely charred.

The anbu with a cat mask next to Hiruzen spoke. "L-Lord Hokage, have you ever seen a dragon before?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "No I have not. I have only ever seen illustrations of them from people who had seen one by pure chance hundreds of years ago, and I have never even read any reference about any type of lava dragon. Dragons stay extremely far away from the elemental nations, so why would one come here now? And why one so rare? Just what does it want with Konoha now?"

Another anbu came up behind them. "Lord Hokage. Iruka Umino was found west of here a few miles. He is still alive, but just barely. I had him sent to the hospital immediately. I believe that he should live."

"Very good. I'm glad that Iruka is still alive, but what to do with this situation? And we still need to find Naruto as well."

At that moment, the lava dragon reared its head and looked directly at the group and opened its maw, showing a massive glowing red inside.

 **"Jiji?"** The dragon spoke in an extremely deep and booming voice that echoed throughout the night without moving its mouth any further.

Hiruzen blinked. What? "Neko…..was that the dragon?"

"I-I believe so Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen yelled out. "Naruto? Are you there?!"

The dragon once again opened its mouth. **"Jiji? Why are you so small? Why is there lava everywhere?"**

Hiruzen yelled again. "NARUTO! LOOK DOWN AT YOUR FEET!"

The dragon obeyed and looked down to see huge claws and lava flowing through its cooled lava rock legs. **"What the hell?! Why am I so big? How did this happen?!"**

A call was heard from an anbu agent in the back of the group. "How much did you eat at breakfast today?!"

A stick was thrown at the anbu agent from the cat mask wearing anbu. "Shut up Tengu! This is serious!"

Hiruzen sighed before looking up again. "Naruto! Tell us what happened!"

 **"Mizuki-sensei told me that if I stole the scroll of seals and learned a jutsu from it, I could still be a genin. I did that and learned the Shadow Clone jutsu. Then Mizuki-sensei showed up and tried to attack me after telling me about the nine-tails. Iruka-sensei blocked it and saved me….IRUKA-SENSEI! Where is Iruka-sensei's body?!"** Naruto yelled as he whipped around with his large body.

Hiruzen jumped to a higher point on the tree. "Iruka is currently in the hospital! An anbu agent found him on the brink of death, but they said that he should live! What else happened after that Naruto?!"

 **"Iruka-sensei is OK? Awesome! After that, I used some weird lava power and spit some lava at him. Then I ended up using some of the nine-tails chakra, but Mizuki-sensei used some stupid tiger transformation thing to get stronger than me. Then the nine-tails spoke to me and gave me more power. The chakra cloak that I had sprouted a tail and this happened. I got covered in a ton of smoke and now I'm like this!"** Naruto explained.

Hiruzen rubbed his chin. "You used a lava power you say? That sounds like lava release. Anyway, are you able to change back?!"

 **"How?"**

Hiruzen faltered. "I-I do not know Naruto. I have never seen anything like this. As you should know from your classes, no one has seen a dragon in an extremely long time! They stay far away from the elemental nations on separate continents, so I don't know why you would change into one of them! Did the nine-tails say why this happened?!"

 **"Uhhh… It told me to not use its chakra before I transformed. I can ask it why."**

"Yes please do!" Hiruzen requested.

Naruto focused on the feeling that he had before, which proved to not be very difficult at all. Apparently this transformation gave Naruto a bigger connection with the nine-tails.

Naruto appeared in the sewer once again, except now he was back in his normal human form. "Hey nine-tails, do you know why I got transformed into a dragon? If this is your fault I swear I'm gonna come in there myself!"

The nine-tails walked up to the bars of the cage. **"Yeah I know why it happened. Your powerful affinity for your lava release Kekkei Genkai got mixed with my chakra and mutated you. I guess you have some dragon blood somewhere in your heritage because that's the only reason that you would turn into a dragon. The latent genes were probably enhanced and magnified to an insane level and mixed with your lava release."**

"So am I gonna stay like this forever?!"

The nine-tails waited a moment to think before responding. **"I think that it's temporary. It's gonna take you a while to learn to control it to a point where you can turn back into a human though."**

Naruto sighed. He could work with that. "Thanks!" Naruto said as he disappeared back into the real world.

 **"The nine-tails said that it's temporary. It said that it'll take a while for me to learn how to control it so that I can be a human again though."**

Hiruzen also sighed in relief. At least it was reversible. "And did it say why it happened?!"

 **"Well it said that my lava release got mixed with its chakra and ended up mutating me. It said that the only reason that I would turn into a dragon though is if I had dragon blood in my heritage."**

"Dragon blood? You mean that at some point in your heritage you are related to a dragon?"

 **"Uhhh, yes? I don't know Jiji, but what do I do until I can learn to control this?!"** Naruto roared unintentionally.

"Naruto please attempt to keep your speaking at a normal level. When you yell it almost sends out a shockwave." Hiruzen said as he clamped his hands to his ears.

Somehow even in his Dragon form, Naruto managed to look slightly ashamed. **"Sorry Jiji. I'll try to be quiet, but what do we do now?"** He said in a quiet tone which wasn't really quiet, but it was a significant step down from the earlier volume.

Hiruzen pondered the options for a minute before speaking. "Well it is clear that you still need to get used to this body, so the first thing to do is figure that out. While you do that, I will have the most powerful earth users in Konoha to clear out the inside of one of the Dravass Mountains." He explained quickly. "They are rather close to Konoha, but not too far away. Given your sudden change in size, you will need a place to live. I believe that one of the Dravass Mountains would suit your needs well. No one really crosses through that territory anyway, so there shouldn't be much danger in it."

Dragon Naruto sighed. **"That's good. It would suck for the villagers to see me like this. I hope I can get this under control fast enough."**

Hiruzen shifted uncomfortably. "Well Naruto….almost everyone in Konoha has already seen you. They can most likely see you right now. Don't worry, they don't know that it is you yet. Although I imagine that word will spread quickly. No matter how tight I make security, secrets like that always get out rather fast. Would you like me to inform them of your identity?"

Naruto lowered his large head to the ground and pouted for a moment, which was somewhat comical for a giant dragon with lava dripping out of its mouth. **"Yeah I guess if you think that it'll get out pretty fast then there's no reason to try to hide it, and I suppose that a mountain sounds cool. How long would I live there?"**

The Hokage looked to an anbu for help, but the nearest anbu simply shook his head and indicated that it was his problem. 'Damn all of you. You're all supposed to be elite ninja, but outside of actual assigned missions you're all just a bunch of eccentric goofballs.'

"Naruto I honestly don't know how to put this in a good way. You may have to live in the Dravass Mountains for the rest of your life. Even if you are able to get this under control, if it is not entirely reversible we could never be sure that it would be safe for you to live in Konoha long-term. Unless you find a way to completely restrain the power and only activate it exactly when you want to, we can't risk something like you transforming during sleep."

Naruto roared loudly in sadness. **"You mean that I'll never be allowed into Konoha again?!"**

"No! If you are able to control your power, you will be allowed into Konoha whenever you would like."

Naruto calmed down for a moment before wailing again. **"Wait that means that I'll never be Hokage since I won't be a ninja!"**

Hiruzen sweat slightly. Partially because of the situation and also because of the intense heat emanating from Naruto at the moment. "Well actually we may be able to come up with a solution for that. I can't be sure yet, but I may be able to hold a spot for you on a certain genin squad while you practice gaining control. Now let's attempt to have you move your body. Just try slowly standing up."

The dragon nodded and attempted to push itself up with its back two legs. It was actually looking fairly promising at first until Naruto attempted to straighten out too much and began to fall backwards. He landed on his back and wings, crushing immense amounts of forest.

 **"Owwww. Note to self, don't try being that straight ever again."** Naruto groaned.

"You are no longer in a humanoid body Naruto! You will have to adjust your posture significantly if you want this to work. Also, I recommend trying to support yourself with all four of your limbs. Using your wings as well may increase stability!" Hiruzen yelled while in the midst of giving orders to anbu.

Naruto rolled over onto his belly to get ready to try again, which ended up destroying even more forestry. He then attempted to push himself up with his front two claws this time before slowly rising with his hind legs. It was certainly a literal shaky attempt, but it was at least standing.

"Well at least you have no deficiency in muscle mass now Naruto." Hiruzen mused with a slight chuckle. "For now let us continue to get this down. You will have to sleep outside in this area for at least tonight. Tomorrow I will make the announcement about your true identity and get many high ranking earth jutsu users to begin creating your new home. I suppose that I will have to reveal most of the events of the night to protect your social integrity."

* * *

 **The Next Day, Outside The Hokage Tower, Konohagakure no Sato**

Almost every single villager in the hidden leaf had come to hear whatever announcement the Hokage was going to make. Everyone from the young children to the elderly.

Other than a few people, no one in Konoha got any sleep the previous night after the incident. Especially those who could still see the sleeping form of a giant dragon off in the distance. It reminded most people too much of the nine-tails attack to stay still.

Hiruzen stepped out to the edge of the balcony and pushed chakra into his throat to project his voice across the crowd. It also helped that there were speakers placed in certain places.

"Ahem….Greetings people of Konoha. I am sure that you are all wondering about the incident that happened last night. I am here to tell you that you needn't have fear of the dragon currently residing in the forest. In fact, he is allied with Konoha long-term."

Murmurs spread throughout the crowd. Many people knew of the existence of dragons on faraway continents but they never expected one to show up here, much less one that was willing to ally with Konoha.

"However, this dragon is not just any type of dragon. He is actually a ninja of Konoha that discovered his ability to transform into the form of a supposed lava dragon. He unlocked this ability last night while apprehending a traitor to Konoha named Mizuki Toji."

The crowd got fairly loud at this, especially the parents of the academy students and the students themselves. Hiruzen hadn't even gotten to the surprising part yet.

After waiting for the crowd to calm down, he took a deep breath and continued. "You may be wondering who this ninja is. The ninja capable of transforming into a dragon is…Naruto Uzumaki."

Now the crowd turned from murmurs and light talking to shouts of disbelief and slight anger.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"That's bullshit!"

"No way! That brat couldn't have all that power!"

Naruto's classmates in particular were shocked. They had all been rallied together and placed slightly to the side by the request of Hiruzen earlier so that if any whispers of the nine-tails occurred, they would be much less likely to hear them.

Kiba ruffled his hair violently in confusion. "The dobe can do that?! What the hell is happening?! This is bullshit!"

"Troublesome. Leave it to Naruto for this to be the one time it isn't a prank."

Ino shook Shikamaru's shoulders in panic. "How can you be so calm about this Shikamaru?! This is huge! Bigger than huge! This is gossip the size of…..the size of….a dragon! This can't be happening! The dobe of the academy can't have that much power!" Ino yelled, falling into a slump on the ground from gossip overload™.

Choji had stopped munching on chips entirely. "N-Naruto can do something like this?"

Hinata had also fainted along with Ino.

Shino stood in silence while processing all of the information.

Sakura was banging her head against the wall. "How? How? How? How? How can the dobe do something like that? Sasuke-kun is better. Sasuke-kun is better. Sasuke-kun is better." She chanted as she began to make a slight indent in the wall with her forehead.

Sasuke was standing next to Sakura punching the same wall. "I'm better than him. I'm better than him. I'm better than him. I'm better than him."

The rest of the irrelevant students that won't be named were also in a panic. The thought of Naruto of all people having such a power was…..terrifying. They were imagining the pranks, and it was not good.

Iruka watched the scene from his wheelchair with an IV pole hooked up to him and sighed. The Hokage had informed him of the situation when he woke up.

Hiruzen coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "As I am sure that you would all like the full story, I will tell you the events of the night. Late last night Mizuki approached Naruto and told him that he could graduate and become a genin if he stole the scroll of seals, which is a highly important scroll of powerful jutsu that should not be given to anyone other than myself."

A sharp intake of breath.

"Naruto found this odd, and so he approached me about the topic. I told him to go along with the plan as if there were nothing wrong and steal the scroll. After he did so, he met up with the traitor in the forest. I had chunin Iruka Umino follow Naruto to intercept Mizuki. Unfortunately, he was somewhat stronger than anticipated and was able to pierce Iruka's back with a fuma shuriken. In his anger, Naruto lashed out at the traitor with his newly discovered lava release." He lied. He hadn't actually known that Naruto was stealing the scroll, and he hadn't told them that Naruto learned a jutsu from the scroll. But they didn't need to know that.

A faint "That's such bullshit!" was heard from Kiba in the back.

"Well as I was saying, Naruto attacked the traitor with his lava release. Mizuki was able to use an unknown concoction to power himself up. This was when Naruto's transformation was triggered through certain circumstances and the result was what you have witnessed. When we arrived and discovered that the dragon was indeed Naruto, we spoke about the plans for the future. He should be able to learn to control his power and revert back into his normal human form eventually. As a result of all of this, Naruto will be living inside of one of the Dravass Mountains until further notice. I would advise all of you to stay away from the area unless permitted by me." Hiruzen finished. "Any questions?"

One of the academy students spoke up from the academy area. "How big is he?!"

Hiruzen sweatdropped. 'An academy student would ask that.'

"Well we can't be entirely sure yet due to the fact that we have not measured him yet as I'm sure that you can understand, however we estimate that he is about 100 meters tall standing." He explained.

"How will he live in one of the Dravass Mountains?! They aren't exactly hollow!"

The elderly Hokage nodded. "Indeed. That is why I have tasked some of my finest earth style users in Konoha with the assignment of doing so and readying one of the mountains for living."

A large man called out from the crowd. "Is he full size?!"

"Most likely not. Seeing as Naruto is still a child and has not hit his human growth spurt yet, we can assume that his dragon form will grow much larger as well." He replied calmly with a continuous nod and a tap on the railing.

"How does that brat have lava release?!"

A sigh emanated from Hiruzen. "Are you even aware of how elemental Kekkei Genkai work?"

A collective nod came from the ninja and some of the civilians.

"Well then you should know that it is most likely due to a simple combination of Naruto having two affinities, Fire and Earth. It could also be through direct heritage, however we have very solid reason to believe that this is false. So it is most likely just the luck of the draw." He said with closed eyes.

"Was the scroll of seals retrieved?!" Yelled a concerned chunin in the crowd.

Hiruzen stopped for a moment to think before speaking. "Well we actually don't know where it is. It is possible that it was melded with Naruto when he transformed. I would assume that when he is able to transform back into his normal form he will still have it with him."

Some sighs of relief came from the ninja population while some were still worried about 'The Demon Brat' having the scroll of seals.

"Are we safe?!"

A nod. "Of course. Naruto is entirely loyal to Konoha, and he has been promoted to the rank of Genin due to his technical completion of his mission. Could he prank all of Konoha with his new power? Possibly. That isn't my fault though. You all should have paid more attention to him before this." He said with a slight smirk.

A shiver went down the spines of many villagers in the crowd.

A loud roar was heard rumbling through the air coming all the way from Naruto's large figure off in the distance. Of course he couldn't hear the conversation, but the villagers didn't know that and the timing was all too perfect.

"It seems that Naruto agrees. If you would excuse me, I believe that I have a dragon to speak to."

* * *

 **A Few Minutes Later, Konoha Plains**

Hiruzen jumped onto the peak of the highest tree around the clearing. "Naruto what are you roaring about?!"

 **"I'm booooooooooooooooored!"** Naruto revealed with an irritated tone.

The Hokage sweatdropped. "I-I see. I suppose that is understandable given your current condition. I think that you would be interested to know that I have just revealed the situation to the people of Konoha. I twisted the truth slightly just like we planned. You're safe from ridicule. If anything, you look even better in the eyes of the villagers."

Naruto relaxed. **"Oh good. What did my friends say?"**

"The academy students? Well I couldn't entirely hear them, however they all seemed fairly shocked and panicked. I think that you will be pleased to know that Sasuke in particular did not take the news well. I also remember vividly young Kiba's use of the word "bullshit" multiple times." Hiruzen laughed.

Naruto stuck his head in the air and laughed, which was quite terrifying actually. **"HAHAHA! I wish I could have been there! I bet Sakura was in awe."**

"Well there would have been numerous problems with that, but I agree that it would have been amusing. Even the Hokage can appreciate a good laugh every once and a while. Although on the topic of the Haruno girl, I believe that she was chanting something about Sasuke being better." Hiruzen revealed with a chuckle.

He had begun calling Sakura "the Haruno girl" after he really heard how she acted and treated Naruto. He had even swung by for a visit to the classroom to check up on them and give a short speech somewhat meant for her. Either she chose to ignore it or she didn't get the not so subtle hints at her. Brightest kunoichi of her generation apparently didn't mean much anymore, or at least not when it came down to Sasuke Uchiha.

Naruto's head fell back down as he pouted once again. **"Awww. All she ever does is talk about him. What's so good about him that I don't have?!"** Naruto questioned.

Hiruzen coughed. He supposed that it was a good time to crush Naruto's dreams about the girl.

"Well Naruto, you have many good points but I think that I know why she is so much more interested in Sasuke. After all, he is relatively handsome, he is the top of his class in combat and is only second to her in academics, and unfortunately girls tend to attract to the broody types. Meanwhile you don't put much work into your presentation, you were the bottom of the academic scale, and you are bright mannered and outgoing." He explained.

Naruto dug his head into the ground even further. **"Aww. That sucks."**

"Although, there is one thing that females gravitate towards even more than the broody and secluded boys."

Once again, Naruto shot his head up and looked at Hiruzen at eye level. Or….treetop level in general. **"What is it?!"**

"Well, the one thing that girls like more than the Sasuke type is a strong and dependable leader. Someone who can present themselves as a powerful leader who trusts in the people and will lead them to peace. Coincidentally these are also some of the traits of a Hokage."

The dragon somewhat humorously nodded it's with fervor.

 **"I get it! So I need to be strong and smart right?"**

Hiruzen sweatdropped. 'Well I suppose that there isn't any danger of Naruto becoming secluded and emo even if he follows that plan.'

"Yes Naruto. That just about sums it up."

 **"Awesome! I'll get this power working and be super strong!"**

The Hokage put on a more serious tone. "Although I think that I should point something out to you Naruto."

He tilted his head questioningly.

"I don't think that the Haruno girl is worth your time and effort."

'I can't believe that I'm about to have a girl talk with a giant dragon.'

 **"What?!"** He exclaimed in surprise. **"What do you mean Sakura isn't worth it?! She's awesome!"**

"Well what does she have that you like?"

 **"She's super smart! And she's pretty!"**

"Is that all?" Hiruzen deadpanned.

 **"What else is there?"**

"I can agree that she is a bright child, but only in academics. In situational awareness and strategic planning in stressful and unexpected situations she is average."

Naruto lowered.

"As for her appearance she may be attractive, but do you believe that a person should be judged based off of their appearance? That a person should be seen as an object for how they look?"

 **"Of course not! That's terrible!"**

"Well then how is this any different? From what I hear, Ino Yamanaka is also quite the looker in your age group. In addition, she is the top kunoichi of your year as well and is only beaten by Sakura in pure academic grades. Why do you not lust after her?" He harshly questioned.

Naruto flinched. **"I don't know. She's just cool."**

Hiruzen's gaze intensified. "Cool how? Is she strong?"

 **"…..No."**

"Is she average at fighting then?"

 **"No. She's in the lower tiers in combat."** Naruto said flinchingly.

"So she is only smart in one type of way, she is rivalled in beauty, and she is not strong. Is she fast?"

 **"No."**

"Is she stealthy?"

 **"No."**

"Is she loyal to her causes?"

 **"Of course!"**

"So would you say that she is not fickle?"

 **"Yeah!"**

"Then let's say that she has an opinion that is similar to yours. Now imagine that Sasuke Uchiha comes up and presents a different opinion. What would she do?"

 **"….She would agree with him."**

"Even if she agreed with an opposite opinion a moment ago?"

 **"Yeah."** Naruto said sadly.

"So is she independent?"

 **"No."**

"Do you think that she has a healthy mindset for a ninja?"

 **"Sure!"**

"So then does she always devote herself to her training?"

 **"…..No. She always stands back and does the least that she can."**

"I see. Well the final question is…Is Sakura Haruno kind?"

 **"Yeah!"**

"She treats you well? This is news to me Naruto. I have always observed her hitting you and berating you for everything you do, even if you are in the right. She ridicules you and thinks of you as less. She believes herself to be a superior person to you because of her academic ranking. She looks down on everyone else and is not unwilling to hurt someone who disagrees with her or Sasuke. Does that sound like a kind person to you? Someone who would beat another in every instance and never consider the other person's situation or life? Who would judge someone based off of assumptions and rumors?" Hiruzen rapid-fire questioned.

 **"….No. I guess she is pretty mean."**

Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction. "So then tell me her good points. Why do you like her?"

….

 **"I don't know."** Naruto said with a whisper.

"I'm sorry?"

 **"I SAID I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW WHY! SHE'S A TERRIBLE PERSON AND SHE ISN'T EVEN STRONG!"**

….

Hiruzen nodded sadly. It wasn't like he wanted to crush the boy's dreams, but if Naruto was going to become a ninja he needed to have the right mindset about people.

"Very well Naruto. I would like for you to think about that for a while. However for now we will have your practice transforming back into your normal form. Your space in the mountain will be done in a few days, so until then we will practice here."

Naruto looked down sadly. **"OK. How do I start?"**

"I want you to close your eyes and imagine your normal form as best as you can. Whatever your form was before your transformation, I want you to clearly imagine it in your mind. Imagine every detail. Your height, weight, build, the clothes you were wearing, the texture of those clothes, the scroll of seals on your back, any large cuts or bruises, and anything else that you can think of." Hiruzen requested.

 **"Alright. I guess I'll try."**

* * *

 **6 Hours Later, Konoha Plains**

Naruto had been attempting to change back for six hours. Hiruzen had long since left, having to attend to his duties as Hokage. Luckily he was able to put more time into speaking with Naruto since he could just file it under official business now, but he still had work to do.

Even after six hours of attempting to change back, Naruto had barely made any progress at all. Actually he technically hadn't made any actual progress, he was just able to envision his own form and focus on his chakra slightly better. It sucked.

 **"Agh. This is going to be a long trip."** He complained tiredly.

The Hokage had warned him that it would be difficult and that he probably wouldn't get it down at first, but this was absurd. It was going to take forever to master it.

 **6 Days Later, Dravass Mountains**

Naruto was currently standing in front of one of the Dravass Mountains curiously. The past few days he had effectively learned to maneuver in his new form and he had even started to learn how to fly. He wasn't far with it yet, but he had started.

He had just travelled by land to get to the Dravass Mountains instead, which left a considerable line of broken trees and trampled land behind him in a straight line.

He could see multiple shinobi milling in and out of the middle mountain of the 7 mountains. He could see effects of multiple jutsu having been formed and currently being formed. There was now an entrance that would allow him to enter and exit the mountain at will, and there was supposedly a large hollowed out area with multiple different hallways and rooms.

Hiruzen landed next to Naruto. "They should be finished with the final touches soon today and you should be able to move in."

 **"Cool. I've always kind of wanted to live in a mountain, so I guess that this is sort of a dream come true."**

They spotted a Jounin sprinting towards the Hokage. "Hm. That may be them now to tell us that they are done."

The Jounin arrived and kneeled in front of Hiruzen after doing a small bow to the monstrous dragon right next to him out of respect and partial fear.

"Lord Hokage there is somewhat of a complication."

Hiruzen frowned. Of course there would be a problem at the last second. "Report."

"Well we were doing the last bit of excavation on one of the walls when we noticed something odd. There were gems and other rare stones inside of the wall. We checked through our already removed rock and found some more as well. We speculate that there will be much more later on if we continue to dig further in the direction of the gems."

The elderly Hokage put his hand on his chin and pondered. "Hmm. Well what to do, what to d-"

 **"Gems?! I want them!"** Naruto cut off Hiruzen.

"Naruto? You've never shown any interest in the valuable before, so why now?"

 **"I…..I don't know. I want em though. Can I have them?!"**

Hiruzen thought back to his studies on dragons momentarily and sighed. "I see. I have read about this in scrolls and books about dragon behavior. Once a dragon reaches the young stage of its life past a wyrmling, it begins to develop a need to start collecting a hoard of treasures." He explained. "Based off of your size, I would say that you are about the size of a very fresh adult dragon or a young dragon on the far end of the spectrum. If it is your supposed dragon blood that was enhanced and magnified, I suppose that the greedy natural instinct would also kick in."

Naruto nodded. **"Alright. So can I have em then?"**

The Jounin looked at Hiruzen as well.

"I…..I suppose so. They could be valuable, but I suppose that feeding your instincts may be one of the best things that we can do right now. Should we remove them and clean them to gather in a pile?"

 **"Yeah!"** Naruto exclaimed happily as he…..wagged his tail slightly? What was he, a dog?

"I see…Well then Jounin, you heard the dragon. Have your men gather up all of the already mined gems and remove the rock and dirt from them. Also dig out any readily available gems without messing up the work that has already been done." He ordered.

"Yes Lord Hokage." The Jounin jumped away to inform his men of the new plans.

Hiruzen sighed. "You really are too much sometimes Naruto. Even in dragon form you still have that insane luck of yours. I do hope that this is the only dragon tendency that you develop. At least you still have your own personality which counteracts that a bit. Otherwise you may have been demanding the gems instead of asking."

Naruto whipped his head away from intensely watching the ninja clean the gems.

 **"What'd you say Jiji?"**

Hiruzen sighed with a smile. "Nothing Naruto."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hey guys! Thanks for reading the first chapter of my new story. I really do appreciate the time that you took to give it a chance. I know that it has a concept that is a bit more out there, but I hope that you can bear with me for now.

Expect future chapters at least 10k words like my other story. Depending on where I am at in the plot and how I am feeling, I may put more as well. If I fall short, it is because I felt that the end was a good place to end off the chapter, but I won't just get lazy and make it shorter. For this one, I felt like this was a good place to end off, plus the first chapter gets a little bit of leeway.

If you have any suggestions, I would be absolutely happy to hear them and talk about them.

And as always, thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2: Bonds

Welcome to the 2nd chapter of The Village Dragon! Not really much to say here.

 **Disclaimer:** I had a dream once that I owned Naruto, but then I woke up and had to Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.

 **Important Notes:**

Oh shit I actually don't have anything to say.

Without further ado, I present to you the 2st chapter of The Village Dragon

 **Chapter 2: Bonds**

* * *

 **1 Month Later, Dravass Mountains**

Hiruzen sat down and sighed. "Alright Naruto, let's see if you can transform back now. You've been practicing in sensing your own chakra and envisioning your form for quite a while now, so we'll see how you have progressed."

 **"Alright! Well then here goes something!"**

Naruto focused for a moment before being engulfed in a huge blast of black smoke.

The Hokage stood up. "Did it work Naruto?!"

The smoke cleared and showed a very similar form of Naruto's fully dragon form, except his new form was only about half as large. **"Aww. I didn't change"**

Hiruzen shook his head. "That isn't true Naruto. You are only about half your previous size. That is a considerable improvement!"

 **"R-Really?! Awesome!"**

"Although you must be careful not to lose control now. Keep your emotions in check for now and keep focusing on this feeling. You need to be able to subconsciously hold this feeling." He warned.

 **"Huh? Uhhhh….OK."**

Hiruzen walked around and inspected the now smaller dragon. "Explain to me what this form feels like in comparison to your full form."

 **"Well…I guess my chakra feels more compressed. Denser I guess?"**

"That makes sense. I suppose that if you hold the same amount of chakra as before, making yourself smaller would compress it more. I want you to try to keep this form as long as you can. It may prove to be a good practice for even further reduction of size."

 **"Alright I guess I can try."**

"Good. Now, let's go outside to try flying again. You seem to have mastered the movement of your body while on the ground fairly well, so now our main focus should be your aerial movement." Hiruzen said as he began to walk towards the exit.

Once outside, Naruto crouched in the clearing in front of the mountains. **"Let's do this."**

Naruto began running towards the other end of the clearing while slowly building up speed. About halfway through the run, he lifted up his wings and started to flap his wings to bring himself up off of the ground. Once he was almost to the edge of the clearing, he began to actually rise fairly quickly.

"You're doing great Naruto! Just try to keep in a straight line!" Hiruzen yelled from below.

Naruto did so until Hiruzen became a small dot on the ground and Naruto began to steer back around towards the plains. He stopped flapping his wings and just glided most of the way back. Once he began to get close to the ground, he straightened out his body more vertically and flapped his wings a few times once again to halt his forward movement and slow his descent.

 **"I did it Jiji! I really flew this time!"** He exclaimed happily with a laugh.

Hiruzen smiled at the sight. "Indeed you did. It seems that all of your hard work is truly paying off. Keep testing your flight until you get tired."

* * *

 **Two Hours Later**

Naruto landed onto the ground and slumped over. **"I'm done Jiji. I can't go on any longer."** He said tiredly inbetween deep breaths.

Before Hiruzen could respond however, Naruto was engulfed in another blast of black smoke. Once it dissipated, Naruto was restored to his full size once again. **"Awww. I'm back to this form now."**

"Well you were able to hold it for a little more than two hours even while doing strenuous activity non-stop. You only transformed back when you were completely worn out. With training, you should be able to hold it much better." Hiruzen stated encouragingly.

Naruto tiredly nodded his head. **"Alright then. I hope so."**

"Worry not Naruto. Everything will work out in the end, I'm sure of it. Now let's go back inside to talk. I'm sure that you will want to hear all about what has been happening while you have been gone."

With that, both of them walked back into the mountain and Naruto settled down in the middle of the main room where he had slightly dug a circle into the ground with his claws and filled it with gems and other goodies that he had found, including a few sticks that he thought were cool. **"So how have my friends been doing Jiji?"**

"Well as you know, they all were put into their Genin teams three weeks ago, two weeks after graduation. A few teams from your class also managed to complete their real Genin tests administered by their Jounin sensei."

 **"Who passed?"**

Hiruzen shook his head. "I apologize Naruto, but I can't tell you yet. I want it to be a surprise when I tell you who you are going to be with once you get your powers under control."

 **"Stingy old man."** Naruto grumbled under his breath. Unfortunately his voice was far too loud now for even his whispers to not be heard.

For the next half hour or so, the Hokage continued to tell Naruto all about the ongoing events of Konoha.

Before he left, he turned around and addressed Naruto. "Oh and remember, I want you to continue your transformation and flight training even when I'm not around. The sooner you can do that, the sooner we can begin to really explore your combat abilities."

The idea of this excited Naruto quite a bit. **"Yeah! I'll have this down in no time!"**

Hiruzen smiled happily. "I'm sure that you will Naruto. Have a nice day." He said as he waved goodbye.

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later, Dravass Mountains, 8:00 PM**

Naruto was currently curled up in his full sized form in his hoard. He had transformed back because he knew that the Hokage would be coming to evaluate his progress.

A ring came from the entrance of the mountain. The Hokage had decided that they should install a large bell so that he could announce his presence when he arrived, just in case Naruto was flying around or in some other area of the mountain. He had recently begun to really explore the passages and other areas that had been carved out in the mountain, and sometimes it took hours for him to return to the main room.

Naruto's eyes flicked open and his head shot up. **"Hey Jiji!"**

Hiruzen entered into the room with a smile on his face. "Hello Naruto. Are you ready to show me what you can do?"

Naruto nodded quickly. **"Yeah! It isn't perfect yet, but I'm really close! I can feel it."**

"Well I'm glad to hear that. I hope you don't mind, but I invited another person here today to observe your skills."

 **"Someone else? Who?"** He said with a tilt of his head.

A tall white haired man with a Jounin vest and one eye covered by his headband. "Yo. Sorry for the sudden visit. Lovely home you have here though."

 **"Who's that?"**

"This is Kakashi Hatake. He is going to be your Jounin sensei once you are able to fully control your powers. I wanted him to be here today so that he could learn a little bit more about you." Hiruzen explained.

Kakashi bowed slightly. "It's nice to meet you Naruto. You're every bit as magnificent as Hokage-sama has told me. Like Hokage-sama said, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I'm a Jounin of Konoha, and I hope that we can work well together."

Naruto was slightly surprised by the introduction since it didn't seem to have any deception or malice in it like the other citizens of Konoha. **"OK then. Nice to meet you. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Likewise"**

Kakashi eye-smiled. "I specifically asked for you to be on my Genin team before graduation, so I hope to see great work from you."

A dragon blushing wasn't something that was expected, but it happened nonetheless. **"You asked for me even before all of this happened?"**

Kakashi nodded. "Yep. I always knew that you had plenty of potential, and I want to help you grow into a fine ninja. You can just call me Kakashi-sensei"

Naruto did his best to bow back. **"Th-Thanks. I'll work hard."**

Hiruzen deadpanned. 'Nice job buttering him up Kakashi. You've got him wrapped around your finger now.'

"Well I'm glad that the two of you are getting along. How about you continue this later after Naruto demonstrates his progress." Hiruzen interrupted.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "Ah of course. Please continue."

 **"Alright. Here I go!"** Naruto said as he stood up and concentrated, compressing all of his chakra inward.

A few seconds later, a large cloud of black smoke covered Naruto in an instant. Once it cleared, in place of Naruto's previous full sized form, he was now about the size of a large horse, if a little bit bigger. Many of his features were now less prominent and many smaller details were harder to notice. For example the his scales were barely visible from afar, looking much more sleek and connected.

Once the smoke had fully dissipated, Kakashi looked on with curiosity. "Impressive. At this rate you should be able to transform back fully. Why is the chakra smoke black though?"

"Well we aren't sure, but I think that it may simply be a side effect of his transformation. We don't know yet if it will stay the same after he fully transforms back." Hiruzen explained.

Naruto crawled out of the dugout area and took flight, circling the room a few times before landing powerfully in front of Hiruzen and Kakashi. **"See Jiji? I'm almost there! I can easily keep this form for a week."**

Hiruzen nodded. "Very good Naruto, I'm proud of you. You should have this down in a few weeks. What are your thoughts Kakashi?"

Kakashi walked around Naruto. "Amazing. This isn't something that could be done with the transformation jutsu unless it was used by a master of the jutsu, and even then it wouldn't be very viable. Your full form would be completely unattainable by any person, even the most talented shinobi ever."

 **"Ah thanks Kakashi-sensei. Hey Jiji, I like him."**

The Hokage nodded with a chuckle. "I'm glad Naruto. Mutual trust is important in a shinobi cell. The relationship between a Genin and their Jounin sensei is truly a beautiful sight."

Kakashi slowly reached his hand forward until he had placed his entire palm on Naruto's scales. They were surprisingly rather cool to the touch. "Interesting. I just assumed that since you're a lava dragon, you would be hot." He said as he ran his hand across the smooth scales.

Kakashi continued to circle Naruto's form and run his hands across his scales. "This is truly impressive. I've never seen anything like this. How much does he eat in his full form?"

….

 **"Jiji….I haven't eaten since I transformed."**

"I-I suppose that we just haven't thought about it. Everything just happened so fast and Naruto never brought it up."

Kakashi tilted his head. "Does he even need to eat?"

"I would assume so. He still has a physical form, and it isn't the result of a transformation jutsu so I assume that he would have to eat much more than he normally does. Naruto? How are you feeling?"

 **"I guess I'm pretty hungry. I just spent so much time training that I didn't notice."**

Hiruzen shook his head. "I'm sorry Naruto. I should have thought about this earlier. I don't even know what you would eat. I read as much as I could about dragons, and I believe that due to your physical makeup of stone and metal, perhaps you would eat metals, and possibly anything else metallic or stone-based."

 **"So…..What should I eat?"**

"Hmm….Kakashi, could you create a stone wall for us using the stone in the ground?"

Kakashi nodded and formed a few hand seals before slamming his hands down on the ground. "Earth Wall Jutsu!"

A medium sized wall of stone shot out of the ground in front of Kakashi. "Is that good?"

Hiruzen nodded. "I believe that should work. Naruto, please transform into your normal form and try to eat this."

 **"Alright."**

A few seconds later, Naruto was back in his full form. He reached his head down and bit into the wall, taking about half of it. He chewed for a couple of seconds before swallowing the stone. Instead of verbally giving his opinion, he instead bit the rest of the wall out of the ground and ate it.

 **"Mmmm. Not the best thing ever, but it's pretty good. Thanks Kakashi-sensei."**

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Happy to help."

"Well before you can eat anymore stone, we should explore other eating possibilities as well. Try eating some metals as well."

Naruto turned around and scooped up some precious metals from his pile and swallowed them.

 **"Mmmmm."**

Naruto continued to pick up from his pile and eat various metals. **"These are awesome! Hey Jiji what did you guys add to these to make them so tasty?"**

Hiruzen chuckled at Naruto's excitement. "We didn't add anything to them Naruto. They are simply metals that we mined from the mountains."

 **"Really? They're great!"** He said inbetween bites.

"Well I'm glad. You may want to save some for later though."

Naruto halted and turned back around to face Kakashi and Hiruzen. **"I guess you're right. But anyway, what do we do now?"**

Hiruzen thought for a moment before speaking. "If you could, please transform back into the small form that you showed us earlier so that we can try something."

 **"OK then. Here goes."** Naruto said as he was once again engulfed in black smoke and transformed into his smaller form.

Hiruzen smiled a little bit. "Now Kakashi, I want you to get on Naruto's back."

….

"Excuse me sir? I must have heard you wrong."

The Hokage shook his head. "You heard me correctly. Get on Naruto's back. I want to see if Naruto can fly with a passenger. If he can manage to do that, he may be able to eventually do the same in his full form. It would be very useful in a team situation if you wanted to get somewhere fast without expending much energy. You can of course use chakra to cling to him."

Kakashi hesitated for a moment. "Very well Hokage-sama. Is that alright with you Naruto?" He asked courteously.

 **"…..I guess so."**

"Is there something wrong Naruto?" Hiruzen asked in a concerned tone.

 **"It's just…..It's embarrassing. I've got pride too ya know."**

Hiruzen nodded. "Of course, I apologize Naruto. I don't want to force you to do anything that you don't want to."

Naruto shook his head quickly. **"No, it's alright. It isn't a big deal or anything. Hop on Kakashi-sensei."** He said as he lowered himself to the ground.

Kakashi slowly climbed onto Naruto's back and steadied himself. "I'm ready when you are Naruto."

Naruto pushed off of the ground as he beat his wings against the air to keep himself up. He quickly found that he needed to account for Kakashi's added weight in this form and took a few tries to figure it out and fly properly. Once he did, he flew in a circle around the room and made sure not to turn completely upside down like he was used to. Kakashi would have been fine of course, but he didn't want to risk anything.

Once he landed, Kakashi slid off and balanced himself. "That was amazing Naruto. Thank you for allowing me to fly with you."

 **"No problem Kakashi-sensei. Flying is fun, so I'm glad that I could show you too."**

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Well now that I've met both, I can safely say that the Tsuchikage has nothing on you in terms of flying."

 **"The Tsuchikage?"**

"Yeah, he floats around. It isn't as cool as yours."

 **"Aw thanks Kakashi-sensei. Hey you wanna go fly around outside some more?"**

"That would be great. Let's go." Kakashi said with a slight hint of excitement in his voice.

Hiruzen shook his head as the two of them left. 'Deep down you've still got that inner child in you Kakashi.'

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later, Dravass Clearing**

"Very well Naruto. Try to transform back fully." Hiruzen requested.

After concentrating for a few seconds, Naruto was engulfed in yet another blast of black smoke.

A voice came from inside of the smoke. "Did I do it Jiji?!"

Hiruzen waited for the cloud of smoke to clear before looking at Naruto, who was now actually Naruto. "I believe that you have, congratulations Naruto. With some more practice, I think that you should be able to join your Genin team."

Naruto was back in his human form, once again wearing the torn black clothes that he was wearing on the night of the Mizuki incident. He also still had the scroll of seals strapped around his body.

"Awesome! I can't wait to go on missions with Kakashi-sensei and my team!" Naruto exclaimed happily before trying to jump up and down, which resulted in him falling flat on his back. "Alright, still need to work on that transition back. Kinda off balance right now."

The Hokage extended his hand and helped Naruto back up. "Well you've made remarkable progress in these last couple of months Naruto. I want you to continue to train in holding this form until it is second nature, then we can introduce you to your team and get you going on missions."

Naruto smiled happily. "Kay!"

Hiruzen faltered for a moment. "Ah…By the way Naruto, you may want to look in a mirror." He said as he actually unsealed a mirror and handed it to Naruto.

Naruto grabbed it and brought it up to his face. "You actually carry around mir-" Naruto paused as he saw his face. "What?"

The Hokage sighed. "It seems that even in your human form, you are stuck with some of your dragon traits."

"Yeah, but…..fangs? Claws? Black WINGS?! A TAIL?! That's so obvious! How am I supposed to look normal?!

"Calm down Naruto! I'm sure that there is a perfectly good reason for this!" Hiruzen said as he tried to calm Naruto.

"There damn well better be! I'll bet it was that damn fox!" Naruto accused.

"Why would the nine-tailed fox do this?"

Naruto shook his head and wiped the tears away. "I don't know, but I'm gonna find out!" He said as he seated himself on the grass and began to concentrate. Within a few seconds, he was standing in front of the nine-tails seal cage.

"Hey fox! Do you have anything to do with this?!"

The nine-tailed fox walked up to the bars and sat down. **"Of course I did. It's hilarious."** It said with a deep booming voice.

"How the hell did you do that?! Why would you do that?"

 **"I was bored and I felt like messing with you. Your transformation using my chakra linked us a lot more than before, so when you transformed back into your normal form you were essentially switching back to your normal DNA patterns. Your dragon form already altered your appearance quite a bit, so I took the liberty of amplifying things a little bit. I also helped with the fangs a bit more than before. The wings and tail were totally all me though. You're stuck like this now, so you might as well get used to it."** It explained calmly.

"I'm stuck like this?" Naruto said in a defeated tone as he sunk to the ground.

 **"Yep. Have fun kid. Oh yeah, and technically your DNA is that of a dragon now, so you're technically classified as one. Remember when you said that you aren't a monster before? Well welcome to the life of being a monster."** The nine-tails said with a dark laugh as it walked back.

Naruto released his concentration and came back to the real world. "I'm stuck like this Jiji. The fox changed my DNA when I changed back. I can't change it. And it said that I'm actually a dragon now, not a human."

….

"Ah….I see. Well I'm sorry Naruto. I suppose that you'll just have to get used to it. You could use the transformation jutsu, but I think that living with it is a better option." Hiruzen stated apologetically.

Naruto shot up. "That's it! I'll just use the transformation jutsu!" Naruto said as he formed a hand seal and was covered by a small blast of black smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Naruto hadn't changed at all. "WHY!?"

The voice of the nine-tails rang through his head. **"This one actually isn't my fault. I'm pretty sure the mutation in your DNA probably made it a lot harder to use jutsu that don't directly correspond with techniques that directly correspond with your natural disposition. An illusion like the transformation jutsu is too far on a different end of the spectrum for you to use. I'm betting that the shadow clone and substitution jutsu that you know will probably still work, as well as simpler chakra flow techniques like your lock and unlock jutsu."**

Naruto curled up on the ground and whimpered. "The fox says that I can't use illusion jutsu like the transformation because it's too different from techniques that correspond with my natural disposition, whatever those are. Apparently the DNA mutation did it."

Hiruzen pat Naruto on the back for comfort. "I see. That's too bad Naruto, I suppose that you will just have to move on and learn to deal with it. For now, you should focus on training to keep this form easily so that you can reintegrate into society once again."

"Alright…..But just leave me alone for a minute or two. I need to grieve for my old look." Naruto sniffed sadly.

* * *

 **One Month Later, Training Ground 3, 4:00 PM**

Kakashi appeared in the clearing in front of his two students. "Hello children. Are you ready for the day?"

Sakura's face contorted with anger. "You're two hours late again Kakashi-sensei! Will you ever learn?!"

Sasuke grunted in agreement, having become fed up with his sensei's tendencies.

Kakashi put his hands in front of him "Now now, let's look on the bright side of things. Today is a very special day for this team."

Sakura tilted her head. "A special day? What do you mean?"

"Well, today is the day that you two are finally going to get your third team member. I know that the past three months with only the two of you doing D-ranks intended for three people has been strange, but that all changes now." Kakashi explained.

This had finally peaked Sasuke's interest. "A new team member? Are they strong?"

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Yes they are. Why don't you come on out now?!" He called towards the tree line to his right.

Out of the shadow of a tree came...Naruto. But he was a bit different. His fingers now melded into claws, when he opened his mouth fangs were extremely noticeable along with his other newly sharpened teeth, and the most noticeable of all, he had large jet black wings protruding from his back and a tail with equally jet black scales on one side, and a lighter gray underside with no scales, but instead tough dragon skin. He was wearing simple black pants and an orange t-shirt, which had slots in the back for his wings to come out of.

Sakura looked at the boy and waved at him. "N-Naruto?!"

"Uhhh…..Yeah. This is a thing now." The boy stated plainly.

Sakura shook her head. "WHAT?"

"Yep..."

…..

Sakura and Sasuke both whipped their heads to Kakashi.

"Isn't Naruto supposed to be some dragon or something?" Sakura asked disbelievingly.

Kakashi shook his head. "That really is Naruto. I know it's surprising, but when he was finally able to transform back into his human form, his DNA had been changed and he looked different. All of these features seem to be permanent."

Naruto stepped up next to Kakashi. "Yeah it's really me. I know I look different, but I'm still Naruto, I swear!" He said frantically.

Sakura leaned forward and inspected Naruto. "No way! Prove it. What's your favorite food?"

"Uhhh…ramen. But I really like rocks too." Naruto said with a look of bliss on his face.

They both blinked and Sasuke also took a step forward. "...Rocks?"

"Yeah…I eat metal and stone now. It's a dragon thing apparently. I can still eat ramen and other stuff too when I'm in this form though. I'm still getting used to it. Oh, and I can sorta hold my wings in and hide them with a coat."

Sasuke sighed. "Uh…Whatever. What's your dream?"

"To become Hokage of course! That could never change!" Naruto exclaimed proudly.

"What is your hobby?"

"Pulling pranks and watering plants! Back up!" Naruto said, leaning back to give himself space.

"Who do you want to fight one day?"

"You and Jiji!"

Sasuke straightened back out and crossed his arms. "He's Naruto."

Sakura nodded happily. "I guess. I suppose that you can't argue with that."

Kakashi coughed. "Well anyway, now that you've all been formally reintroduced, let's go down to the mission office and get a D-rank mission for all of you to do. You can bond and whatever later."

Sasuke and Sakura groaned while Naruto just shrugged. "How bad could it be?"

* * *

 **An Hour Later, Wheat Fields**

"OK I stand corrected, this is boring. I would rather be training or flying right now." Naruto said as he stood up and placed some wheat into his basket.

Sasuke popped up next to him and nodded. "See? These are a total waste of time. We're ninja, we should be doing real missions but all we do is paint fences, babysit, and catch animals. It's just normal grunt work. They should have the career Genin handle this and the elite Genin that have a Jounin sensei go on at least C-rank missions."

Naruto tilted his head. "Career Genin?"

"Yeah, didn't you ever pay attention at the academy? Genin that don't make the cut when a Jounin administers the real Genin test are put into a program that trains them up to get up to code. The only way for them to be promoted to Chunin is through a field promotion. They're labeled as career Genin. But we're considered elite Genin since we passed the true Genin test. We have the opportunity to be promoted either through a field promotion or the Chunin exams." Sasuke explained.

Naruto nodded along. "Oooooh. I get it now. I guess that makes sense since only about 20 kids actually become full Genin each year."

Naruto paused and looked back up again. "I noticed something, you're being a lot nicer to me than normal. What's up?"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment before replying. "Kakashi-sensei…..knocked some sense into me. I still haven't recognized you as my equal yet and you're going to have to show me what you can do now, but I can accept that you're my teammate and I need to act like a real shinobi would. I guess…sorry for how I treated you in the academy. I was always pretty cold and petty towards you specifically. It's just…I guess that I was jealous of you. Jealous of how happy you always were even though you didn't have any reason to be. You were always my opposite in everything. You were never good at anything except stealth, but you were still always joking around and smiling. Just like me you were ostracized, but you never let people get you down. So…sorry about all those years."

Naruto shook his head. "It's all good. Friends?" He said as he extended his hand.

Sasuke clasped his hand. "…Teammates for now. We'll see about friends if you're strong enough."

"Fair enough."

They both went back to their work and continued their conversation lightly.

"Sakura also changed some. She isn't as fangirlish as she was before, so she's more bearable. She still needs some work though."

Naruto nodded. "Alright then. I guess that we should try to work with her better too. I should also apologize for all that badgering that I did over the years."

Sasuke stopped for a moment. "Your appearance isn't the only thing that changed I guess. Are you finally taking this more seriously?"

Naruto snorted. "How could I not? I was kinda forced to transform into a giant 300 foot tall dragon. I have to get everything under control or else I'll be stuck being away from everyone else for my entire life."

…

"That's good to hear. I need my teammates to be strong." Sasuke reasoned.

"Well I hope I'm strong enough then, cuz I want to be your teammate, and your friend. After all, you're really awesome." Naruto smiled.

Behind the tall wheat, Sasuke blushed a little bit and turned away. "Whatever, just work hard so that you don't bring down the team."

Naruto's signature wide smile spread across his face.

"Sure thing…..Teammate."

From the tree line, Kakashi looked on with a satisfied look on his face. 'Good job Naruto. Sasuke might be social yet.'

* * *

 **Two Hours Later, Outside The Mission Room**

Sasuke and Naruto walked over to Sakura and Naruto signaled to Sasuke to start talking since she would react better to him talking than Naruto.

Sasuke sighed and spoke. "Hey Sakura, do you want to go to dinner with us? We thought it might be good for all of us to get to know each other better since our team is complete now."

Sakura's heart fluttered a little bit. Sasuke was asking her out to dinner, even if it was with someone else as well. "Sure! Where to?"

Before Naruto could open his mouth, Sasuke spoke. "Yakiniku Q. Let's get going before it gets too dark."

"Right!"

* * *

 **Yakiniku Q**

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto sat at a small table with cushion seats on the floor.

There were just a few strange looks because of his appearance. It was common knowledge that he transformed into a dragon, but even in his human form his teeth and claws were quite noticeable as well, so naturally he got some strange looks from people.

As they waited for their food, Sakura switched their conversation to a more engaging topic. "So Naruto, how does all of that dragon stuff work anyway? What's it like?"

"What? You mean what is existing as a thirty story lava dragon like?" Naruto asked with a slight laugh.

"Huh. That actually says a lot. But like…..how does it feel? Are there problems with having such a large body?"

Naruto put his finger on his chin and thought for a moment. "Well yeah I guess there are a few problems with it. My scales get rid of a lot of my sense of touch on the outside, so sometimes even when I hit something like a tree, I could knock it down or break it without even noticing. But all of my other senses are a lot better now, so it's a fair trade. Also since I'm so large, it's hard to notice people sometimes if I'm not paying attention. Jiji set up a big bell at the entrance to the mountain so that I know if he's there. Speaking of which, I haven't really seen and talked to anyone except for Jiji and Kakashi-sensei for the last three months."

While Naruto was talking, an employee came by and set their food on the table for them to make. Sasuke was laying meat and some vegetables on the grill as he listened. "You talk about being a dragon really casually. Honestly it's...kind of weird. Isn't it strange to talk about yourself as a different being?"

Naruto tilted his head. "Huh, I guess I just don't think about it. It's been a few months since I transformed, so I suppose I just got used to it after a while. It's not too big of a deal."

Sakura shook her head. "Being a giant lava dragon who eats metals and rocks isn't a big deal? Naruto, you're literally the only entity in the elemental nations who fits that description. That's kind of a big deal. Speaking of which, how much do you eat? How often do you eat?" She said as she picked some meat and vegetables off of the grill and put it with her rice.

"Well I can go a pretty long time without eating. I went about a month and three weeks before the topic got brought up. I guess I eat a lot of stone and metal. Kakashi-sensei or Jiji make some stone walls for me sometimes. If I find something nice, I put it in my hoard for later."

"Your hoard?"

Naruto nodded as he munched on some meat. "Mmm. Yeah, I have a big pile of gems and metals and some other cool things where I sleep. Oh yeah, and sometimes if Kakashi-sensei and Jiji aren't around to make stuff for me I go outside and take a few small bites out of the other mountains that I don't live in if I need a snack. Don't tell them though, I don't think Jiji would be OK with that."

Sakura and Sasuke sweatdropped. 'He takes bites out of mountains for snacks?'

"Naruto, I think Hokage-sama notices chunks being taken out of mountains."

The look of shock across Naruto's face made Sakura wonder if maybe the transformation had messed with his head too.

Sasuke took a slice of grilled tomato and placed it on top of his rice and beef. "So what's living in a mountain like?"

"It's awesome! There are tons of rooms and hallways for me to walk around in, and I get to do whatever I want! It's great, and it's way better than my old apartment."

"We should visit then. It would be good for us to know about your lifestyle since you're our teammate now." Sasuke reasoned.

Naruto thought for a moment. "Hmmm. Well I'm fine with it, but since it's outside the range of the Konoha walls, we would have to ask Jiji to let you guys leave."

"That's fine with me. Do you think that he would still be in his office now?"

"Yeah, usually stays sorta late to finish all of his paperwork." Naruto nodded.

"What about you Sakura? Would you be able to go tonight?"

"Sure thing. Kakashi-sensei talked to my parents a while back, and ever since I graduated they pretty much let me have free reign over what I do or when I come home."

Sasuke added more meat to the grill as he ran out. "Well then it's settled. After we finish eating, we'll ask Hokage-sama if we can leave tonight and if he lets us, we can go to Naruto's house….or Mountain I guess."

For the next half hour or so, the three ate while they caught up and talked about what each of them had been doing in the last three months, mainly focusing on Naruto.

* * *

 **20 Minutes Later, The Hokage's Office**

Hiruzen was just finishing up his last few bits of paperwork when he heard a light knock on the door. "Enter."

The door swung open and Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura walked in casually.

"Hey Jiji! We need a favor." Naruto said cheerfully with a swing of his arms, not at all using the formal tone that people normally would when speaking to the Hokage in his own office.

Hiruzen's eyebrow quirked. "A favor so soon after meeting back up? You aren't about to ask me for a C or B ranked mission are you?"

Sasuke stepped forward. "Of course not Hokage-sama. We came here to ask for your permission to take a short leave of Konoha to visit the Dravass Mountains where Naruto lives. We believe that it is important for us to connect with Naruto as to fully understand his lifestyle so that we can properly integrate him into the team." He stated officially, not wanting to mess this up.

The Hokage chuckled lightly. "I see. Is that the only reason?"

Naruto bobbed up and down on his heels. "They also just wanna see it. You have to admit that it's a cool place Jiji."

Hiruzen sighed. 'Damn Naruto, when you get all happy like this it is difficult to refuse you.'

"And would you only be venturing to the mountains then? Would you stay within the parameters of whatever I set?"

"Sure thing! It isn't like there's anywhere else that I know to really go to anyway."

"I'm just not sure if I can trust three fairly new Genin with leaving Konoha without supervision. Especially when one of them is a giant dragon who is coincidentally also Naruto Uzumaki. You're basically the master of creating chaos and painful headaches."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks Jiji, I really try."

Hiruzen sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that as a matter of village security, I'm hesitant to simply let you roam free."

"Pshhh. We'll be fine Jiji. It isn't like we're gonna do anything bad, right guys?" He asked as he turned to his teammates.

They both nodded simply.

"See? It'll be fine. It's just gonna be a straight path to the mountain and back anyway, so it's not like there's much that could go wrong."

The Hokage sweatdropped. 'If only you knew how wrong you were.' He thought before sighing.

"Very well Naruto, but if anything does go wrong, it is all on your shoulders. Understood?"

"No problem! Everything is gonna be fine." Naruto reassured him.

The Hokage pulled three small sheets of paper out of his drawer and began to fill them out, handing one to each of them. "Take those to the guards at the front gate of Konoha. Once they clear you, you may go on your little expedition."

Naruto opened the door and started to walk out. "Thanks Jiji! Don't worry, everything is gonna work out."

Before Sasuke and Sakura could leave, Hiruzen addressed them. "Oh and you two, has Kakashi taught you the tree climbing technique yet?"

Two nods came from the Genin.

"Good. Make sure that Naruto doesn't do anything irrational, and please be on your best behavior." He requested with a sigh. "There are far too many variables for me to really feel safe allowing you three to do this."

* * *

 **Outside The Konoha Wall**

Once Sasuke had finished with his paperwork, he joined Sakura and Naruto. "So, how long is the walk from here?"

Naruto snorted. "Oh we won't be walking. We'll be flying."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "Flying? But only you can do that."

Naruto wagged his finger. "Tsk tsk tsk. Just watch this." Naruto said as he took a lot of steps back, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate, expanding his compressed chakra into a different shape.

A moment later, Naruto began to morph quickly as he glowed dimly. When it he finished, the giant form of the lava dragon that people had seen months ago appeared right in front of the two of them and lowered to the ground.

 **"Climb on. Use your chakra to keep a hold on my back."** A deep and booming voice came from the dragon.

Sakura and Sasuke hesitated and reeled back from the voice. Sakura looked especially skeptical of the idea. "Are you sure that's safe?"

 **"Of course it is. I've done it with Kakashi-sensei a couple of times in this form. Don't worry though, I won't do anything crazy like turn upside down. Just climb on. Don't worry, it isn't hot or anything, even though I have lava coursing through my veins."**

Sasuke looked hesitant, but in the end began to walk up Naruto's side and eventually reached the base of his neck, and Sakura soon trailed behind him. They both pressed themselves against the cool scales on Naruto's back.

 **"You guys ready?"**

Neither of them responded with anything more than a small nod, however Naruto took it as an affirmative and began to get ready for flight. **"Hold on tight. The first time is a little bit rough, but I'll try to be slow and steady."**

Naruto began to flap his wings and advance forward. Before long, he raised off of the ground and began to head towards the Dravass Mountains.

About two minutes later, he lowered down and lightly landed in the clearing in front of his mountain.

 **"And here we are, home sweet home. What do you guys think?...Guys?"**

Sasuke and Sakura both slowly slid down to the ground and laid on the grass with dizzy looks on their faces.

 **"Ah…..I guess it's something that you have to get used to. Maybe I should have used one of my smaller forms first."**

About a minute later, they regained themselves and stood back up with a slight wobble. Sasuke hunched over and put his hands on his knees. "Warn us next time dammit."

 **"I did warn you!"**

"Bullshit. You said it would be a little bit rough, not all that." Sasuke said tiredly with a slow shake of his head.

Naruto transformed back into his human form. "Sorry about that. I guess I should have gone slower and used a smaller form. I'll remember that on the way back. Kakashi-sensei never really had that problem, so I didn't think about it."

Sakura straightened out and glared at Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei is an elite Jounin, of course he didn't have any problems with it!"

Naruto at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed. "Sorry, but anyways let's go inside and look around." Naruto said, diverting the topic quickly.

The three of them walked into the huge entrance to the mountain at the base and came into the large main room where Naruto slept most of the time. There was a large circle carved out of the floor a few meters down that contained gems, precious metals, stone, and other cool things that Naruto had found.

"And this is my hoard! It's also where I sleep." Naruto said proudly as they walked by. Naruto reached down and snatched a small rock from the pile and threw it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it completely.

Sakura bopped him on the head lightly. "I don't care if it's a rock, don't snack while you show people around your home. It's rude."

"Awww. But I haven't eaten anything today. All I've had was the barbeque, so I'm kinda hungry." Naruto whined.

"It's still rude. Even if you are some big scary dragon now, I won't let that slide."

"Well in that case, you shouldn't be hitting the person showing you around their house!" Naruto stated with crossed arms and a pout.

Sasuke coughed into his fist. "Are you going to show us around or just argue?"

Naruto turned back around and started walking towards a passage. "True. Let's go look at a few of the other rooms. To be honest, there really isn't much of anything in other places yet. They're mostly pretty bland, but there is one place that I wanna show you. It's just up ahead."

He navigated them down through multiple different hallways and rooms until he came to a normally sized set of double sliding wooden doors. Instead of the usual stone that had been seen throughout the rest of the mountain, this room was made of wood and had a proper ceiling.

Ad they walked through the much smaller hallways that were also made of wood, Sakura and Sasuke noticed something familiar about the layout and style. Throughout the hallways they noticed fusuma doors that hinted at multiple tatami rooms.

Eventually they walked through a changing room and came to more double sliding doors. Naruto opened them up slowly to reveal a small body of water with steam rising off of it surrounded by stones and wood. It also had a washing area with stools, buckets, and mirrors.

Sakura gasped. "An onsen? What is this doing in a mountain?"

"I dunno. Jiji said that he had it made especially for this place, but I don't know how he made this part. Something about geothermal hot springs or whatever, I wasn't really paying attention when he explained it." Naruto said simply, not noticing the incredulous looks on their faces. "At one point I remember him saying something about inviting people over and taking them here eventually."

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. "Well you weren't planning on….well not tonight right?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Huh?"…. "Oh! Nah not tonight, I just wanted to show you guys just in case you ever wanted to go. I figured that if everything works out with our team and stuff, we could come here every once and a while and maybe even invite some other people too. I guess it's just kind of childish though, sorry." Naruto said with a down look.

Sakura waved her hands around in front of herself frantically, noticing the saddened look in Naruto's eyes. "No no, that sounds like a great idea! It'll be fun when that comes around! Right Sasuke?"

Sasuke's eyes widened a little bit. "W-wha-?" He felt a sharp pain in his foot as Sakura dug her heel into it. "Ow. Uhh….Yeah sure."

Naruto's eyes brightened up again. "Really? Awesome, I can't wait!" He beamed brightly with a wide grin.

Sakura sighed in relief. 'OK good. Sadness crisis averted.' She thought to herself silently. Unlike Sasuke, she could fairly easily recognize social cues and tell if someone was sad. She had seen the same look on Naruto's face countless times in the academy, but at the time she never cared enough to do anything about it, instead focusing on Sasuke.

"So, where to next?" She said quickly.

"Oh just wait, I have plenty of stuff for you to see. I also wanna show you some of the powers that I get from my transformation. I even started on my lava release in this form a little bit!"

For the next couple of hours, Naruto showed the other two around and told both of them stories before also demonstrating his abilities some more. Afterwards, Naruto transformed into his dragon form about twice the size that he showed Kakashi for the first time and slowly flew them back to Konoha.

Sakura waved goodbye. "Bye Naruto! It was pretty cool to see your home! We'll see you tomorrow at training!"

Sasuke wordlessly gave a quick wave goodbye as well as they both watched Naruto transform into his full dragon mode and fly off towards his mountain.

As they walked down the main road, Sakura smiled. "Naruto actually changed quite a bit in these past few months huh?"

Sasuke nodded tiredly. "Hn. I guess he has. I suppose that you could say that all three of us have actually. His life got turned upside down and he acts differently now, you're a lot more serious about being a shinobi and aren't afraid to get a little bit dirty from time to time, and admittedly I'm less of an asshole."

Sakura shook her head. "You were never like that! You were just…misunderstood."

"No, I really was a jerk to pretty much everyone. I'm not perfect, but three months ago I never would have even considered working together with you two on a serious team."

They both reached the point where their paths split in two different directions.

"Well Sasuke-kun, I guess that we're all getting better slowly but surely. Just don't change too much alright? We don't need a second Naruto on our hands." She giggled lightly.

Facing away from her, Sasuke smirked. "Will do. Have a nice night Sakura." He said as he began to walk away.

 **Author's Note:** Hey guys! Thanks for reading. Sorry about the somewhat shorter chapter, but I hit a bit of a block and I didn't want to delay this chapter any more than it already was. Plus I thought that this was an OK spot to end off. I don't really have much to say right now to be honest. The only thing is that I want you guys to remember not to take this too seriously. This will be a much sillier and less realistic story than the True Child of Light. Not everything will be explained in full and you might be left sometimes wondering how the hell something works.

Small other note: I am about to start working on my third story which has a somewhat different concept. Again, The True Child of Light still takes priority so don't worry too much about that. Besides, I need a slight break from The True Child of Light after that train wreck of an 8th chapter.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope that you continue to enjoy later on. Bye!


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